Countdown to Forever
by assimilates
Summary: The countdown to destruction has been put into motion as Astronema's forces have started fourth on their conquest of Earth, and alongside the Space Rangers, the Rangers of the past will risk it all to help save the Earth. With or without their powers...
1. Chapter 1

**" COUNTDOWN TO FOREVER "**

_01. CHAPTER ONE_

Katherine Hillard smiled brightly at the cloudless sky. The streets of Sydney were rather calm and tranquil this morning, perfect for a nice stroll around the great Australian city. She had left England, where she was attending one of the most prestigious dance academies, to visit her family in Australia. Her aunt, Loretta, lived here in Sydney and her brother, Tobias, lived in Melbourne. She was to spend two weeks here in Sydney, before flying to Melbourne to pester her older brother.

"Kathy!"

The tall blonde whirled around to face her aunt, who was emerging from a quaint little coffee shop.

"Here you are, my dear," Loretta said as she handed Katherine a styrofoam cup full of steaming hot coffee.

"Thanks, Aunt Lori," Katherine said with a smile.

Her aunt had always been her favorite family member and when she was a child, she had often wished she was Loretta's daughter instead of her own mother's. When her parents made the move to California, she was furious and homesick for Australia. Her aunt had offered to let her come live with her, and her parents had agreed to allow it.

Of course, that was before Rita's spell had been placed upon her and she'd been bestowed with the powers of the Pink Ranger. Nothing had mattered to her while she'd been a pawn for Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd's forces outside of her missions, and she'd had a duty to protect the world from those who had used her as a Power Ranger. Then, she'd gone to England... Still, Australia would _always_ be home to her.

She shoved her free hand into her pocket and ran her fingers along the side of one of her zeonizers. It was a bit foolish to still carry them around, as the Zeo Crystals had been weakened and access to the Morphing Grid was limited, but they were more of a security blanket than a weapon to her now. Besides, Cassie and the other rangers had everything under control.

Or so she thought.

Without warning, a mass of people came tearing down the street in a fury of fear and desperation. Her hand instantly clutched her zeonizer, following her aunt's frightened gaze to the sky, were a swarm of Velocifighters were nearly blocking out the sun. Hundreds of the silver-suited Quantrons thundered behind the crowd, brandishing their bat'leth-like weapons in the air.

Loretta tugged on Katherine's arm, urging her niece to run away with her from this madness, but Katherine remained frozen. Before now, the forces of evil had only ever attacked Angel Grove or other areas around California within close proximity. She had always assumed it was because of Zordon being based there, but still, it meant that the rest of the world didn't really have to worry about an attack.

Yet now, Sydney was clearly being targeted. Why? Was it because of her presence, because she had been one of the Rangers who'd stopped them time and time again from overthrowing Angel Grove? She couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for this, along with the need to do _something_ to stop it.

Her mind made up, Katherine pried her arm from the elder woman's grasp. "Go on ahead, Aunt Lori. I'll be right behind you," she lied. "I'm going to make sure everyone's out of this vicinity."

Her aunt hesitated for a moment, before giving her niece a quick hug and running off in the opposite direction. Katherine wasn't sure why she hadn't pressed on about her niece making a run for it, but didn't question it. Whatever the reason, Loretta was allowing her to do what she needed to.

Ducking into one of the empty shops, Katherine took out her zeonizers and strapped them to her wrists. She hadn't morphed in years, especially not with these powers. The last time she had used her zeonizers was when she'd been falling from that cliff in Africa, and her morph had been short-circuited by the impact of the rushing waters below.

Whatever the risks, it was worth a try.

Katherine threw her hands up into the air.

"It's Morphin' Time!"

* * *

Astronema smiled in satisfaction of her progress with the invasion of Earth. The Rangers were desperately trying to fight of her forces in Angel Grove, though they were quickly failing at that endeavour. Aquitar's Rangers were slowly being defeated by the forces of Divatox, the legendary Gold Ranger was no match for the massive Machine Empire, while the Blue Senturion and Phantom Ranger struggled against being taken down by Lord Zedd and Rita Repulsa. 

Everything was going according to plan. _Her_ plan.

"My princess!" Ecliptor suddenly exclaimed. "A Ranger has appeared in Australia!"

The Princess of Evil turned sharply towards her minion, angrily making her way towards him. "What!? Which of those despicable Rangers is it? They're supposed to remain in Angel Grove where they can be targeted as a whole! Them splitting up is _not_ part of my plan, Ecliptor!"

"They are still in Angel Grove," he replied calmly, unfazed by her fury.

She was growing impatient. "If they are still in Angel Grove, then _why_ is there one in Australia!?"

Ecliptor pushed a button on a nearby console that activated the viewing screen. Sydney appeared on the screen and Astronema couldn't help but grin at the sight of her Quantrons pushing it's citizens into chaos. However, her smile vanished once a pink-suited warrior stepped forward and sent a Quantron flying into the side of a building.

"It's the Pink Zeo Ranger," stated Ecliptor.

Astronema slammed her fist down hard upon the console, sending a shower of sparks across the room and causing the screen to go blank.

"No!" She cried. "The former Rangers must _not _get in my way!"

In a sudden swing of moods, Astronema calmed and righted herself, tapping a gloved finger against her chin and grinning with a devilish confidence. "They won't be able to help the Rangers. None of them."

Her eyes flickered to where Zordon was being kept.

"Their powers won't sustain their morphs for very long. Zeo Pink will fall and when she does, I'll be there to finish her off _personally_. These ex-power geeks will not get in the way of my plans for Earth's - and the galaxy's - destruction."

* * *

"Whew!" 

Kimberly Hart dabbed at her forehead with a towel after having made yet another run of the track outside the gym. She'd been hard at work training hard for her next competition, but for the moment, it was time for a break. She lounged in one of the over-stuffed chairs before the television, watching as Sylvester chased poor little Tweety around in a classic episode of _Looney Toons_.

The yellow bird was just about to escape the cat's clutches when the local news station broke in. Curious and a bit miffed at the disappearance of the cartoon, Kimberly leaned forward in her chair, brown eyes locked upon the image of a stricken anchorwoman on the screen.

"The world is under attack!" The woman cried. "The Power Rangers are fighting desperate to free Angel Grove from the invaders while the rest of the world is crying out for help. Hundreds of casualties have been reported from across the globe, along with a devastating bombing in St. Petersburg. The world is begging for the Rangers' help, but it's beginning to look as if not even the Power Rangers can save us this time."

Kimberly gripped the arms of her chair, mouth slightly ajar in shock. Never, had any of the villains gone after an area other than Angel Grove. She had always known they would tire of that region, but had never expected it to actually happen. _This is it_, she thought, telling herself that she would trade all her gold medals and trophies for the ability to morph again.

Never again did she want to feel as helpless as she had when Divatox had captured her and Jason to feed to that disgusting lava monster, Maligore.

The anchorwoman rambled on about the casualties and how people were being held hostage in Denmark, when suddenly she paused, glanced over at someone shouting to her off camera. A tiny smile appeared on her features as she turned back to the camera.

"It has just been brought to my attention that a Ranger has appeared amongst the chaos in Sydney, Australia. A Pink Ranger, who hasn't been seen in over three years..."

Australia? Pink Ranger?

Kimberly's eyes widened in realization.

_Kat! _ Her mind screamed.

It was Katherine! But, hadn't Kat passed her powers on to someone else, just as Kimberly herself had given her powers up to her years before? How had she morphed? Was there really enough power left in the Morphing Grid to sustain her?

"...Rangers are popping up _everywhere_!" The anchorwoman shouted excitedly, catching Kimberly's attention once again. "Two Yellow Rangers in Africa, a Green Ranger in Korea, a Blue Ranger in New York...it's simply amazing! Power Rangers that haven't been seen in _years_ are answering the pleas of the people and are making a stand in this time of crisis! The Earth might be saved, yet!"

Some of the other former Rangers had morphed, too. She didn't know how they were able to, but they _had_. Glancing over to where her purse sat on the other side of the room, she wondered if she could, too.

Moving out of the chair, Kimberly went to her purse and dug out her morpher, blackened and broken from that fateful battle so long ago. The power coin was cracked and no longer held the lustrous shine it used to. She could barely see the engraving of the pterodactyl upon it.

"Can I still do this?" She asked aloud, thankful that the room she was in was empty.

_One way to find out_, her mind answered.

Glancing left, then right, Kimberly gripped the battered morpher in both hands. _Here goes nothing..._

"It's Morphin' Time!"

* * *

Even within the dark fortress of Astronema, Zordon felt it - the moment Katherine morphed, he felt it. Somewhere, hidden deep within the ruins that was once the Power Chamber, the Pink Zeo Sub-Crystal sprang to life. The Yellow and Green Zeo Sub-Crystals also surged in response to Tanya and Adam morphing. He soon felt the Morphing Grid straining and tugging at his mind as Aisha, Justin, and Kimberly moprhed as well. 

Such a thing brought a smile to his hovering features in this time of despair. The Rangers - _his_ Rangers - even though it wasn't guaranteed that they would be able to sustain their morphed forms, were fighting for Earth. Former Rangers...no, they **are** Rangers. And would forever always be.

This struggle wasn't gong to be an easy one, but he was confident that they would manage and find a way out of it somehow. They'd succeed. He might not survive this, and wasn't expecting to. He knew his fate. But, all be damned if he was going to let anything happen to these innocent humans who risked their lives for free, battling these horrendous forces.

Reaching out towards the Morphing Grid with his mind, he latched onto it tightly, lending what power he could to strengthen it. Hopefully, it would give the Rangers some more time.

Time to **win**.

"...may the power protect you..."

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

_"Power Rangers" is © Saban, Toei, MMPR Productions, Disney, etc._

**A/N: ** I began this fic YEARS ago, after having seen the final episode of "Power Rangers in Space," and found myself highly disappointed in a lack of mention or appearance where former Rangers were concerned. Especially with the debated issue over what happened to the Zeo powers and the speculations that they were still in existence. Even Justin, who'd made an appearance previously in the series, did not don a blue suit or as much as throw a non-suited punch during the conquering of the i world /i . It just didn't make sense in my mind. So now, after five years of starting this fic, I am revising and continuing it, with the hopes of making "Countdown to Destruction" make a lot more sense.

04.16.2003, edited/revised 06.15.2007


	2. Chapter 2

**" COUNTDOWN TO FOREVER "**

_02. CHAPTER TWO_

If only she could summon her zord, she'd be able to do something about the swarms of Velocifighters firing at the buildings and people below. Katherine had tried, but had failed. Either the zords had been destroyed when the Power Chamber had been attacked - she remembered reading about that in an e-mail she received from Cassie - or she was too far away for them to hear her call. A zord would be useful about now, even without the ability to form a megazord due to the absence of the other Zeo Rangers.

She ran behind the Australian refugees, punching, kicking, and blasting Quantrons along the way. While unable to do anything about the Velocifighters, she was doing what she could to fend off the Quantrons so that the people could get to safety. It was the only thing she _could_ do right now.

These people had done nothing to deserve this, they were all innocent in this crazed invasion. In her mind, the only humans this Astronema had the so-called _right_ to attack were those who were Power Rangers. These people were **not** Rangers, _she_ was. No one should have to put their life on the line and become one, but as long as the forces of evil threatened Earth, the Power Rangers would be here to stop them.

She froze as she saw her aunt standing atop a bunch, frantically screaming her name. Within the helmet that shielded her face from the world, she frowned.

_Oh, Aunt Lori_, she thought,_ I'm right __**here**_.

"Kathy! Katherine!" Loretta cried.

Eternally grateful that her helmet disguised her voice, as well as hid her face, she ran up to her screaming aunt, putting a gloved hand on one of the arms Loretta was waving about in the air. "Miss please, this way."

Loretta shook her head and tried to wrench her arm out of the Pink Ranger's grasp. "No! I have to find my niece! I have to find Katherine!"

Katherine held tight to her aunt's arm. "Katherine? Katherine Hillard?"

Her aunt's face lit up and she stopped struggling, grasping the Ranger's pink-clad shoulder. "You've seen my Kathy?"

Releasing Loretta's arm, Katherine gave a nod of her helmeted head. "Yes, she went ahead with another group of survivors. You must be the aunt she spoke of. Your niece was worried you'd gotten hurt when she noticed you weren't in the group she was leading to safety."

Loretta put a hand to her heart and breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God."

"You'll probably see her again, once you get to safety," Katherine urged.

The elder woman nodded, put a gentle hand on the Pink Ranger's arm and smiled her thanks, then turned and ran to rejoin the crowd. She froze, however, upon hearing an anguished cry sound from behind her.

In a shower of sparks and energy, the Pink Ranger fell limply to the ground, a Quantron standing above her, weapon raised above it's head, ready to strike once more...

Loretta watched as seemingly out of nowhere, yet another Ranger appeared and leaped into action, blasting the Quantron's weapon out of it's hands before it could hurt the fallen Pink Ranger another time.

The Ranger looked directly at her. "Get these people out of here!"

Nodding, Loretta turned to the crowd and ushered them forward, looking back momentarily to see the other Ranger lift the Pink Ranger off the ground and take off in the opposite direction.

* * *

How he wished he knew more phrases in Korean beyond the basic "hello" and the rather useless in this situation, "thanks for the birthday present, Grandpa." Adam Park needed to get these people to safety, but it was hard to do when they didn't understand a word he said. 

If only his helmet had some sort of _Star Trek_-esque universal translator device within it.

"Yeoboseyo!" He shouted at the people, gaining a few curious and annoyed looks every now and then, but the people seemed to be more interested in running around in circles, flailing their arms about, then listening to the green-suited Ranger standing amongst them.

"Excuse me, but would it help you if I were to translate?"

Adam turned to face the middle-aged woman who'd stepped out of the crowd blankly for a moment, before he realized that he'd understood what she was saying. She was speaking English! Within the helmet, he grinned.

"That would be of much assistance to me, ma'am," he told the woman. "I need these people to follow me, so I can lead them away from the fighting."

She nodded and turned towards the crowd, shouting with a surprising volume. i Must be a teacher/i Adam thought. Word quickly passed through the crowd and Adam waved a gloved-hand in the air that signalled for them to follow and began to lead the way.

As always when he was in Korea, he'd come to see his grandfather. He'd only been off the plane for a little over an hour when the attacks started. At first he'd thought it was something to do with the struggle between North and South Korea, but the moment he spotted a Quantron, he knew he was wrong.

It was a blessing that he'd had his zeonizers with him. He hadn't intended to bring them, and in fact, they'd been packed by accident. The suitcase he'd brought with him had been serving as their hiding spot - something he'd forgotten until airport security had found them (he dismissed them as toys for a non-existent nephew) - and had had ended up coming with him to Korea.

He ran as before the crowd, glancing over his shoulder every so often to make sure that the woman who spoke English was still within reach incase he needed to get another message out. They needed to get out of the area as soon as possible, for he wasn't sure how long his morph was going to last. His brief stint as the Black Ranger had failed quickly when he'd fought beside Carlos a few months back, and he was afraid the Green Ranger would fade away just as quickly.

As long as he got these people out of here, he would be content. He just wished he could do more.

* * *

He'd come to Australia to study abroad for a semester, never expecting anything of this sort to happen. When he'd left Angel Grove, he thought all things of this nature had been left far behind. Especially on a continent that was separated from California by a grand ocean. Australia was farther from home than Wisconsin would ever be, and he didn't mind admitting that the distance didn't bug him in the least. 

Once safely inside a building that had been long abandoned and making sure than none of whoever's forces these were had seen him, he'd moved to sit on the ground and settled the limp body of the Pink Ranger into his lap. That Quantron had struck her hard on the back of the head, and that blow to the back hadn't helped matters any.

It was times like this he wished they still had the Power Chamber to transport back to when someone got hurt.

He went to work on getting her helmet off. He needed to make sure she didn't have a concussion of any kind - if only for his own reassurance - before he set her aside and went back into the fighting. Setting the pink helmet aside, he put a few gloved fingers to the exposed part of her neck to check her pulse, then bent down to inspect more closely for signs of a concussion.

Katherine stirred, eyes fluttering open to stare up, wide, at something that was _very_ close to her face. Thinking she was still in the midst of battle, she moved to push him away and grab her blasters, but she quickly recognized just what it was.

A Power Ranger.

And, _who_.

"Tommy?"

The Red Ranger drew back, reaching up and removing his helmet, revealing the face of Tommy Oliver.

She smiled up at him for a moment, brows knitting together in confusion. "What are you doing in Australia?"

"School," he answered, helping her extract herself from where she rested in his lap.

Katherine curled her legs underneath her and sat across from the boy - no, man - who donned the powers of the Red Zeo Ranger. Someone she hadn't seen since the day they'd passed their powers onto Cassie, TJ, and the others. She pointed a finger at him in an accusing manner, suddenly noticing the change in his appearance.

"Your hair! What did you do to it?"

Tommy reached up and ran a hand through his short, spikey hair and gave a small shrug. "Kept getting in the way during field work."

"...field work?"

He was about to answer her, when a Quantron leaped at them, causing the two Rangers to jump to their feet. Quickly, he reached for his helmet, noting that she went for hers as well. "You feel up to fighting?"

She raised her helmet above her head and nodded. "I'm always up for fighting."

He grinned and moved to her side, mimicking her actions with the helmet.

"Back to action!"

* * *

It was simply marvellous to feel power like this once more. Kimberly's morph was holding up and she felt fully charged as she fought off the Quantrons that had made their way into downtown Miami. When she'd fought alongside the Turbo Rangers on Muranthias, she'd felt a bit awkward and highly out of practice. It had been different for Jason, who was a martial artist who practiced regularly, but she hadn't done anything remotely close to karate since surrendering her power coin to Katherine. 

Now, however, she felt easily back in her element with the suit of the Pink Ranger clinging to her skin, old habits easily fluttering back to her. The immense amount of training she had in gymnastics was proving to be useful as well, as she found herself gracefully flipping off of railings and benches, falling into the splits to avoid direct hits, and swinging up into to trees for surprise attacks.

Oh, how fabulous it was to be a Power Ranger again.

As quite and non-death threatening life had been without the burden of a colored suit on her back, Kimberly had truly missed this. She wasn't being sarcastic when she'd told Jason she wished she could've morphed. Billy was right, morphing was something you took for granted until you couldn't do it anymore.

* * *

"How are they able to do it?" Astronmena demanded of Zordon, pointing her diamond-tipped staff at the great glass tube that housed him. 

"Able to do what, Astronema?"

"Morph!" She shouted. "Your ex-power twerps are getting in the way of my plans for global domination. I was under the impression that they had lost their powers and were unable to morph anymore. They are drawing their powers from somewhere, and I assure you Zordon, I _will_ find out where."

The dark princess whirled around throwing a commanding hand towards Elgar, who sat nearby, tinkering with some sort of gadget.

"You--"

"Me?" Elgar pointed at himself.

"Yes, you!" Astronema shouted.

Her tone made Elgar drop the gadget and jump to his feet.

"Go to Earth," she commanded. "Find out where the former Rangers are drawing their powers from."

"Uhh...right now?"

"Yes, _now_!" She brandished her staff. "Unless you would rather have your fate be the same as theirs."

He held his hands up in defense of himself. "No, no, thanks! I'll go and uh, find out what it is!" With a salute to his princess, he vanished.

Astronema groaned.

Her first command as Empress of the Galaxy once this was over with?

Find more intelligent minions.

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

_"Power Rangers" is © Saban, Toei, MMPR Productions, Disney, etc._

06.14.2003, edited/revised 06.15.2007


	3. Chapter 3

**" COUNTDOWN TO FOREVER "**

_03. CHAPTER THREE_

Sydney had quickly become overrun with Quantrons, forcing the Pink and Red Rangers to retreat for the time being. They hid within the back room of the coffee shop where Katherine and her aunt had been earlier, before all this chaos started. Once the door was shut and secured, the two had powered down to conserve their powers - as they were unsure of how long they would last - and sat in an awkward silence for a long while.

Tommy and Katherine hadn't exactly parted on good terms when they'd left Angel Grove. Over the years, they'd formed some sort of relationship, one that had never really gotten the chance to get fully off the ground. After graduation and the passing on of their powers to TJ and Cassie, that relationship had just sort of fallen apart. She went to England to study ballet, and had assumed that Tommy left to pursue a career as a race car driver.

"You said something before about field work?" Katherine asked, breaking the silence.

He nodded. "Yeah, for school."

"I thought you were looking to be a famous race car driver."

Tommy sighed and gave a shrug of his shoulders, moving from where he had been standing at the door to sit across from her at the only table in the room. "So did I, but then I thought about everyone who went off to college and all the great experiences they always say you have there...and I thought I'd give it a shot. Looked around and soon found myself at the University of Wisconsin."

Katherine's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wisconsin? Why there? That's awful far from Angel Grove."

"That's why."

"I don't understand."

He held out his arms, a zeonizer around each wrist. "I'd been a Power Ranger since I was a freshman in high school, Kat. I could've gone to football games, parties, and concerts during those four years, but instead of that, I was saving the world. For four years, my life revolved around Angel Grove and the evil forces that threatened it. I needed to get away and see if I could be something other than a Ranger."

She understood, perhaps a bit better than anyone else could, for she knew what he wasn't speaking. Like herself, he'd been placed under Rita's spell and forced to fight the Rangers. Tommy had been both good and evil. He wanted to know what it was like to be someone who didn't have to claim a side, someone who could simply just _be_.

Tommy pulled his arms back to him, folding them atop the table. "I guess I sort of blew my Ranger-free streak."

"Perhaps, but if you hadn't, that Quantron would've done more beyond simply knocking me unconscious."

He looked up. She smiled.

"Thank you for that, by the way. If you hadn't--"

"Don't mention it," he said with a smile and a nod. "It's what we Rangers do, right?"

Katherine's smile faltered slightly. "Yeah, I suppose it is..."

Tommy tapped his fingers on the table, changing the subject by asking if she'd moved back to Australia.

"No," she answered. "Only visiting. I'm still living in London and going to dance school." Raising a hand into the air, she gracefully and slowly brought it down, fingers held in a manor that added to the fluidic affect of the simple movement.

"Prima ballerina," he remarked.

She gave a small chuckle. "Not quite. So, mister college student, what are you going to school _for_, hm?"

"Paleontology."

His answer took her a bit by surprise.

"Yeah, shocked me, too," Tommy said, taking note of her reaction. "I like dinosaurs, who knew?"

"I always thought you more of a mythical type."

He titled his head slightly, confused. "Mythical...?"

Katherine had thought she was being clever, but he'd missed her small joke. "It was the others who had zords based on dinosaurs. Your's was a dragon."

"Oh," he remarked in realization. It was then that Tommy looked to Katherine as if she had just proclaimed to him that he'd won the lottery.

"What?" She asked, not sure what to make of that look.

"Kat, you're a genius!"

Clearly, she was missing something. "...I am?"

"Yes!" He shouted, standing abruptly in his chair. "Dragonzord! It's still in Angel Grove Bay!"

Katherine bit her lip, not wanting to burst Tommy's bubble. "Tommy...are you sure that's going to work? This is Australia, California's on the other side of the Pacific. Granted the Dragonzord still has enough power to even awaken."

Tommy sighed defeated and sank back down into his chair. Katherine felt bad for mentioning something that had gotten his hopes up and was about to apologize, when a grin spread over his features and he glanced over at her with a look that said, _I've got it!_

"It's risky..."

She leaned forward. "What's risky? What are you planning Tommy Oliver?"

"I'm about to break the Ranger Code of Honor."

* * *

"You want me to _break _into your dorm room?"

Hayley Viktor held her cell phone to her ear, listening to her lab partner ramble on about desperately needing her to break and enter into his dorm room and dig through his things to find some sort of coin. She knew Tommy was studying abroad in Australia - she'd been offered the same opportunity, but hated flying, thus had opted to remain in Wisconsin.

"I don't know what you expect me to do with this coin once I find it, Tommy," she told him over the phone. "Campus is on complete lock down due to these attacks, I doubt I'll be able to get to a post office to mail it to you."

Why he need a _coin _so badly was a mystery to her, but--

She leaned forward in her computer chair, gripping the phone. "Did you just say that you want me to _hack_ into the coin? How am I supposed to that!?"

"_You're a computer whiz, Hayley_," said the voice on the other end of the phone. "_If anyone can do it, you can_."

The redhead shook her head in disbelief at such foolishness, laughing and leaning back in the chair. "Tommy, this isn't a microchip or a harddrive. It's a _coin_. I don't care who you are, you can't hack into a _**coin**_. It doesn't carry data."

Reluctantly, she stood and moved out of her room and towards the elevator, pushing the button for the floor Tommy's room was located once inside. If it would get him to quit prattling about things that only existed in science fiction novels, she'd go look for that blasted coin. He was lucky she was experienced in picking locks from the days when her older sister used to lock her out of the bedroom they'd shared.

The room wasn't hard to get into and thankfully, there hadn't been anyone around to witness the crime. Of course it wasn't really a crime, since she had the resident's permission to enter. She just didn't have a key.

"Okay," she told him. "I'm inside. Where do you keep it?"

Following Tommy's instructions, Hayley moved to his closet, grimacing and making a noise of disgust at the pile of dirty laundry guarding the door she needed to get open. Kicking what she could aside, she pulled the door open, pulling out the white gymbag from the closet shelf.

"Your room is going to rot away before you get back," she told him.

Tossing the bag onto the dishevelled bed, Hayley unzipped it and dug around for the coin in question. Her fingers came into contact with something smooth, yet rough, and she withdrew it holding it up for her to see better.

It was a coin, alright. A battered, beaten up coin that looked as if it'd been through the wash cycle one too many times. Or an explosion of some sorts.

"Have this thing on you during a chem. lab that went astray?"

His answer to her attempt at humor almost made her drop the phone.

* * *

"Girlfriend?" Katherine asked as Tommy put his cell phone back into his pocket.

"Hayley?"

She nodded.

Tommy shook his head. "Nah, she's just a friend. Someone I met in the computer science course I took my during my first year in Wisconsin."

Katherine felt a bit relieved to hear that this Hayley wasn't his girlfriend, but did not voice anything of the sort. Whatever their had been between her and Tommy was long over, and this was not the time nor place to be discussing - or even contemplating - such things. They had a duty as Rangers to defend their world.

"So," she said, leaning on an arm she had propped up on the table, "you think Hayley will be able to use your power coin to gain access to the Morphing Grid?"

He nodded. "She rivals Billy when it comes to this sort of stuff, Kat. And being that Billy's on Aquitar, she's the closest thing we've got to someone who knows anything - or can make something _of_ Ranger technology."

"And once she's _got_ access to the Grid..."

"She'll first have a look around and see if there's anyway she can tap into the Dragonzord's systems and reactivate it. Along with working on..._boosting_ the Grid a bit."

"Boosting?"

He nodded. "I caught wind of these attacks from a newscast I saw on a television set up in a diner a few streets from where I found you. We aren't the only ones morphing, Kat. Adam, Aisha, Tanya, Kimberly, Justin...they've all tapped back into the Grid and are fighting, _just_ as we are."

Katherine knew where this was leading. "You think that the Grid is going to fall under the weight of having to sustain the morphs of powers that are long gone."

"Exactly."

She sat up. "And just _how_ is Hayley going to boost the Morphing Grid?"

Tommy grimaced. "...it's best not to ask."

* * *

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

_"Power Rangers" is © Saban, Toei, MMPR Productions, Disney, etc._

06.15.2007


End file.
